Comment

After all that I have read, researched and written about the Holocaust over the past four decades, I considered myself fairly au fait with the subject. I have known a number of survivors, as well as rescuers - starting with my own mother, the Hungarian singer Vali Racz, a Righteous Among the Nations. But I guess there is always something new to learn, and recently I was able to add to my general knowledge of the Holocaust a little-known - and somewhat disturbing - aspect of it.

It was only a little article on the JC's website but it was one of the most heart-warming to read in a while. Yet again, Israel - so often the subject of bad press around the world - was rapidly responding with real aid to a humanitarian crisis.

When I was at university, I remember very clearly a lecture given on how every action we carry out is political.

I have always applied this to my own actions, from the party I vote for to not dropping litter on the floor; from always giving money to a Big Issue seller and always smiling at the security man on the school gates. Every action has a reaction.

Last week, an Australian court granted an injunction to the estranged Roman Catholic husband of a Jewish woman, forbidding her from arranging future bar- and batmitzvah ceremonies for their 10-year-old son and eight-year-old twin daughters.

In seeking the injunction, the father claimed his only wish was for their children to be allowed to decide which of their parents' religions to adopt when they reached an age at which they could make "an informed and voluntary choice".

Aldgate - the eastern-most exit from the City of London - is to get a new landmark. Next Thursday, the Architecture Foundation will announce the winner of a design competition to erect a "New Aldgate" on the ancient site of the previous one - an underarm stone's throw from Bevis Marks.

Timed to coincide with the Olympics, it is hoped that the landmark, which is unambitiously intended to last only for a year, will celebrate London's "openness and diversity". Great idea. This part of London has always been open to a lot of diversity.

Again and again we hear that "everyone knows" what the final peace agreement between Israel and Palestinians will look like.

It was drawn up at Camp David in 2000 and will involve a sovereign Palestinian state covering the West Bank and Gaza; a divided Jerusalem; the return of a symbolic number of Palestinian refugees to 'Israel proper'; and a demilitarised Palestinian state.

All that is missing is leaders brave enough to sign on the dotted line.

Like many of you, I am still attempting to work out what went wrong with the England football team. We have top players, many of whom have played in Champions League finals, and a manager who has taken teams to the very top. So why aren't we in Sunday's World Cup final against Holland?

I went on the internet and typed in "Why did England fail at the World Cup?" expecting to read about poor tactics and overpaid, overhyped players.

However, it turns out that the real reasons for England's poor performance are far more sinister.

I got a call from an Oriental man asking for a room for two at my B&B in Israel, and he said one of them would be in a wheelchair. I explained that my establishment didn't meet the proper criteria, but I've had guests in wheelchairs and they got about OK.

Fine, he said, we will be there tomorrow. I didn't think more about it.

Come the following day, a large dirty white van pulls up, and a hyper-active Filipino man jumps out to shake my hand and then sets about energetically decanting his cargo.

Earlier this week, the interfaith conflict-resolution organisation, Faith Matters, launched a booklet highlighting the overlooked actions of many Righteous Muslims who saved Jews in the Holocaust.

Termed "Righteous" by Yad Vashem, they gained nothing financially from their actions, yet they put themselves and their families at considerable risk by saving Jews and standing up against injustice and prejudice.

Getting your child into the right school can be a fraught business. Over the past few weeks, the JC has received a string of complaints from parents whose children have been denied a place at their local Jewish school.

Passions are running so high that one family whose child got into a school told me that the members of another family whose child was unsuccessful were not speaking to them.